Adventurer

New Recruit Posts : 33 Join date : 2013-06-12

1970 issue

Adventurer 66C8FBA9-F7AE-43AF-84C9-DDB43E30F3DA-9425-000006BA67D3D326_zps240128a8

Subject: Re: Adventurer Sat Jun 15, 2013 10:14 am

Great

You would be surprised at how many people have the wrong boots on this chap Smile

Subject: Re: Adventurer Sat Jun 15, 2013 3:34 pm

Excellent!!! That brings back very happy memories for me of '''Christmas''' morning 1970 rendeer

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Subject: Re: Adventurer Sat Jun 15, 2013 3:40 pm

A classic set, great upload mate

Guest

An all time favourite of mine. Nice addition to a collection.

One thing I've noticed is the boots are the larger tall ones but cut to be ankle height, but there are vintage tan boots made that are smaller, same mold was used for the DAK outfits, Panzer Captain, British Infantry Major, Royal Engineers to name a few.

I sometimes wonder if since the 40th range some unscrupulous sellers take a pair of 40th tan Adventurers boots made from the larger type boot mold and scuff them up / 'age' them a bit and pass them off as vintage.

My original 1st issue Adventurer is comprised of a vintage brown bearded fuzz head, mint doll with authentic vintage white jumper (has the label inside, got it when it was far easier to buy VAM items second hand long before the advent of ebay) and a pair of the dark indigo twill denim trousers, also mint, I think Alan Hall sold them to me along with the smaller, vintage tan Adventurer boots way back in 1998/9...Doesn't have the original box but he's stored away in a nice white coffin box with acetate lid.

I have been thinking of swopping another bearded VAM into a 40th 1st Issue Adventurers outfit so I have one with repro box, but I can't for the life of me remember where such a doll has been stored away with my countless others in freezer bags in cardboard boxes...! That and I can't be bothered to rummage through them all!

Subject: Re: Adventurer Sat Jun 15, 2013 7:16 pm

How can you nit be bothered to rummage through Accy stuff ???

Where are you ill rummage for you bounce

Subject: Re: Adventurer Sun Jun 16, 2013 10:14 am

me too !!

Guest

Where am I? I'm at Home. Very Happy

Says so on my Avatar locale.... Cool

No, I like keeping things neat and tidy when it comes to my collection...so I'll get round to it sooner or later... lol!

Subject: Re: Adventurer Sun Jun 16, 2013 1:33 pm

Great Figure, Love that Adventurer. Would love to get my hands on an original box like that. Another item on my top 500 wants list.
You have some excellent stuff.

Subject: Re: Adventurer Sun Jun 16, 2013 1:45 pm

Great vintage Adventurer & box. Smile

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GI Joe,the movable fighting Sailor

Subject: Re: Adventurer Wed Jun 19, 2013 2:08 am

Could anyone let me know if this set came with the heavier dark blue demin pants or the lighter blue cotton pants with the white stitching like the 2nd issue adventurer. I have seen both versions and Alan Halls book has the dark blue pants in his picure of the loose adventurer but the picture on the box as in Actionmancollectors photos suggest they would have come out in the lighter blue pants.
Thanks
Darren

Guest

Ddaydawson wrote:: Could anyone let me know if this set came with the heavier dark blue demin pants or the lighter blue cotton pants with the white stitching like the 2nd issue adventurer. I have seen both versions and Alan Halls book has the dark blue pants in his picure of the loose adventurer but the picture on the box as in Actionmancollectors photos suggest they would have come out in the lighter blue pants.
Thanks
Darren

Since the 40th version I think its either really. Tony's 'guess the year' pics of the 1970 Toy Fair display shows a 1st Issue Adventurer with the light blue thin faux jeans with white stitching which I pointed out in that thread. I also remember someone posted a pic on some other VAM forum of them from 1971 as a kid with said toy at Christmas and it has the light blue jeans usually seen on the 2nd Issue Adventurer as someone asked the same sort of question and when I saw that pic it did surprise me but it also made me think 'thats why Alan Hall released the 1st Issue 4th version with the 2nd Issue style 'jeans'...

But...

Back in 1992/3 I went to a Toy Fair in Ascot and saw for the first time in my life a 1st Issue boxed Adventurer, I remember pulling him out of the box on the stall (his head had come off the socket!) and he had on the dark indigo twill cotton denim jeans like the French Resistance Fighter. This led me to think this was his 'official' outfit. Then came Alan Halls Vol 2 guide and it has the picture you mention. My very first Adventurer in my (then) growing collection I dressed in the dark blue French Resistance style jeans – bought from Alan Hall along with the correct smaller tan boots back in 1997/8 it was. I just phoned up and told him what I wanted and he sent the bits along with other stuff I'd ordered (once I'd paid of course!) which again led me to think the correct outfit was:

white jumper
dark blue indigo jeans
smaller mold type (look like the DAK mold) tan boots

But then the odd thing is, many ebay and the like listings, even the pic in this thread, show the boots made from the larger taller (Action Soldier / Sailor/Pilot and subsequent American uniforms like the Paratrooper, Internationals U.S. Marine, Emergency outfits, U.S. Machine Gunner etc outfits) but cut off at ankle height - as Palitoy did with many outfits at the time, the Talking Commander with 17th/21st Lancers cap and the Basic Soldier (the 'new' 1973 uniform types with jersey, scarf, pants, web belts etc) had these style of boots as well as many other carded outfits.

I actually wonder if a lot of supposed 'vintage' listings with these larger orange 'tan' boots are actually 40th repro ones which also used the larger boot mould I've described but 'aged and scuffed' to flim-flam unsuspecting buyers. Its something I've had cross my mind since the end of the 40th range and the rise in prices on ebay.

I am NOT saying the original posters items are 40th repro ones pictured before anyone says anything else though! To me, having collected so much original as well as 40th I can spot repro from vintage with ease, its the sort of thing I could only show in person though...if that day ever comes where I finally venture out to a VAM meet I will happily oblige anyone willing to listen lol...

This all said, to me personally, the original, definitive 1st Issue Adventurer wears the dark indigo denim jeans and has small molded tan boots. However, another line of thought could be this is simply a doll that had running changes – Palitoy moulded the boots in both small and large tan (cut to ankle height if using the latter) and also issued the doll with the thinner light blue 'jeans' with white stitching. The 1st Issue Adventurer only lasted one year on sale / in production so was deleted from the range around 1972, the 2nd Issue version was developed in 1973, released in 74 so it wouldn't make sense for them to sit on excess stocks of 1st Issue white jumpers and 1st Issue Adventurer boxes for around two years whilst they were going to promote the 'new' Adventurer – with gripping hands...

I reckon unless Bob Brechin or Tony Barton can deliver a definitive answer this does make a (long winded lol) logical explanation...

Subject: Re: Adventurer Wed Jun 19, 2013 3:43 am

I have a few Adventurers now and LOVE THEM!!!!!! They are like a GI JOE AT Sea Adventurer no such thing as too many!!!!

The 40th Adventurer is what got me back into collecting!!

Len

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Bond

Subject: Re: Adventurer Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:01 am

Great Info Stan, I appreciate the time you have taken to send the info.

I always thought the 1st adventurer would have came out with the thicker dark blue denim jeans. As the thickness off the material used in all the 1st issue figures all seemed to be that thicker material and the thinner material came in later issue outfits. So I would have to totally agree with you and presume that the earlier version came out in dark blue and as they ran out of stock of the dark blue they went onto the lighter blue jeans getting ready for the second issue adventurer.
Brings me to the other point. The tan boots. I have had my 1st issue adventuer for about 15 years long before the 40th range came out and it has the thicker tan boots so I know there 100% original. In line with the thoughts of the earlier the version the thicker the material, I would have thought that the earlier version adventurer would have came out in thick tan boots not the thinner version. As from what I have seen the thinner boots didn't start coming out until what I would call the eagle eye uniforms. ie: camo Brit infantry, dak, brit major etc etc.
I have both tan boots and have always wondered where the thin version tan boots came into the Action Man range. As the 2nd issue adventurer didn't come out with tan boots and I thought the thinner version was later issue, so it always had me stumped. So maybe all my thoughts have been wrong and you are correct and the 1st issue did come out in the thin version and also the thicker version tan boots.
Heres a pic of both styles:

Guest

Absolutely stunning, I love it

Guest

Ddaydawson wrote:: Great Info Stan, I appreciate the time you have taken to send the info.

I always thought the 1st adventurer would have came out with the thicker dark blue denim jeans. As the thickness off the material used in all the 1st issue figures all seemed to be that thicker material and the thinner material came in later issue outfits. So I would have to totally agree with you and presume that the earlier version came out in dark blue and as they ran out of stock of the dark blue they went onto the lighter blue jeans getting ready for the second issue adventurer.
Brings me to the other point. The tan boots. I have had my 1st issue adventuer for about 15 years long before the 40th range came out and it has the thicker tan boots so I know there 100% original. In line with the thoughts of the earlier the version the thicker the material, I would have thought that the earlier version adventurer would have came out in thick tan boots not the thinner version. As from what I have seen the thinner boots didn't start coming out until what I would call the eagle eye uniforms. ie: camo Brit infantry, dak, brit major etc etc.
I have both tan boots and have always wondered where the thin version tan boots came into the Action Man range. As the 2nd issue adventurer didn't come out with tan boots and I thought the thinner version was later issue, so it always had me stumped. So maybe all my thoughts have been wrong and you are correct and the 1st issue did come out in the thin version and also the thicker version tan boots.
Heres a pic of both styles:

I'm glad you took the trouble to post a photo of the boots I've been rabbiting on about as it shows the differences. I think Palitoy may have issued the thicker tan boots initially as the same mould was being used along with other boxed dolls and outfit sets at the time and then had the new smaller, thinner boots issued with the indigo thick twill cotton jeans, this then segued into the 1st Issue Adventurer being issued with the thinner 2nd Issue type light blue and white cotton stitched jeans.

From my years of collecting, this style of mould (the smaller one) was used by Palitoy initially with the Australian Jungle Fighter Solders of The Century outfit in the mid 1960s so the mould was available to re-use in a tan colour for 1971-2. Out of that range, he's the ONLY one with them, the other two wear Jackboots (German, Russian), ones in lace ups (Tommy) and the final one (Resistance) wears what I'm sure are the thicker / larger black version ankle boots but I am also sure the outfit came issued with black smaller/thinner boots too made from the same Aussie brown boots mould I've mentioned. For some reason it was only re-used later into the mid 1970s and 1980s on certain outfits, many you've mentioned and became thinner and thinner as time went on.

Outfits on dolls I own with these smaller boots barring my original 1st Issue Adventurer are:

Panzer Captain
British Infantry Major
British Infantryman (Carl Gustav rocket launcher type)
Royal Engineers (I had the book card version as a child and distinctly recall them)
Last Issue Parachute Regiment (red chevron style window box)
Afrika Korps
Afrika Korps (Internationals)
German Paratrooper (Internationals)
1st and 2nd Issue Australian Jungle Fighter
Commando (Frontliners)
Royal Marines Exploration Team

Finally, Tsukuda's German Fallschrimjager also came issued with (boxed doll and carded outfit) the smaller / thinner type brown boots. Alan Halls 40th version is incorrect in having the boots moulded from yet another iteration of VAM's boots, the type that came in the mid 1970s with more boot eyelet and lace up detailing as well as being slightly smaller.

I'm a bit anal about 'boots' and VAMs. I usually go by what was originally issued, so if a set had the smaller type I use those etc...

Guest

P.S. from your photo of the two types of tan boot I can also say that both are definitely VAM....again, its something only in person you could explain to someone but believe me, when I say I know my VAM, I know my VAM Very Happy

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